tavis: good evening from los angeles. tonight a conversation with dick van dyke. he is out with a new memoir. this past weekend, the book made its debut on "the new york times" best seller list. we are glad you could join us. >> all i know is his name is james and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide supports tavis smiley. we are proud to join tapas in supporting educational literacy

it -- to join tavis in supporting educational literacy. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> pleased to welcome dick van dyke back to the program. the comedy legend is celebrating 60 plus years in show business with a new memoir, already a "the new york times" bestseller. we will get to the wonderful stories in the text, but first, a small sampling of his economic work. >> 0h, rob. >> i would be thinking exactly

what you are thinking. >> darling. oh, rob, the you think you could ever forgive me? >> sure, i forgive you. what did you do? chin ♪of that noble sin bad ♪ me i was supercalifragilistic... ♪ ♪ bang bang chitty chitty bang bang ♪

[laughter] did we get you good? >> yes, you got me. >> that is just a small sample of when you see that kind of real, and you try to just suppose that with your title, "my lucky life in and out of show business," what does look have to do with it? that is a lot of talent. -- was does luck have to do with it? >> it comes from being in the right place and the right time. i got a job and then learn how to dance. it was that kind of career. i wanted to call the book, "everybody else has got of bo -- a book."

tavis: you really do believe so much of your success was being at the right place at the right time? >> i started out as an announcer on the radio, and my ambition was to maybe a television announcer. everything else just happened. i fell into things. i got a contract with cbs. i was the anchor of the cbs morning show. my news announcer was walter cronkite. there was just 29 years old and did not know what i was doing. i got fired from that and started doing game shows. i was doing a game show called "mother's day," and i was terrible at it, so when the show was over i go out and audition for broadway shows, anything, and i got a job for a show, and i ended up auditioning.

i did a little soft shoe, sang an old song, and he came up on the stage and said, you have the job, and i said, i do not know how to dance, and he said, we will show you what you need to know, and i learned to dance at the rehearsal. i became a song and dance man. i was 33 years old, and the whole thing was a surprise. >> you ended up dancing with people like rivera. >> she was so good and so strong. >> what is it like when you are not a dancer but you have people like fred astaire and carry grants coming to watch you? >> those are two of my idols. i was listening to radio program, and fred astaire was talking about a current nuns of dancers, and he said, i like the way -- talking about the current

bunch of dancers, and he said, i like the way to extend like moves. i remember it. -- the way dick van dyke moves. i remember it. tavis: tell me about the time you accidentally played on the air of a tornado warning. >> in those days they had those things this with a lot of cuts on them, and i had to run across the hall and get the news, so i put it on, ran across, and i hear this voice saying, attention everyone, a tornado is coming. stay tuned. i ran in and took it off. it was too late. all the phones lit up. two men came in and said, which direction is it? i did not get fired.

tavis: that is one luck comes in. >> i was only 17 years old. tavis: i want to jump ahead. the lesson you said you take away from your live -- three things. 01, you have to have something to love, something to do, and something to hope for. can you take those one at a time? i love that formulation, but what you mean by that? >> i think the most important thing is to have someone to love. if you do not, life does not have as much meeting. i have to have someone to love and care for. we have to of something to hope for and to do, and hopefully be as lucky as i am and do what you love to do, and not too many people find that.

the whole idea of learning from your mistakes, and i think you learn so much more from errors and mistakes than from successes. gotavis: how much of your success has to do with the fact that you have found -- have had the opportunity to do something you really love doing all these years? >> yes, and a rose said -- and thoreau said people live lives of quiet desperation because they do not enjoy what they are doing, and i tell kids to be patient and not and hang on until you find something you really love to do and find somebody to love. i think that is the most important thing in the world. tavis: you said to be patient until you can find something you want to do. this does not seem to happen too much these days in this

business. it is hard to imagine, but "the dick van dyke show" got canceled after its first season. how did it get canceled after the first season? how did it get back on the air? and how did it become so iconic? >> we did not get any ratings. we were heartbroken because we knew we had something good. our executive producer went to procter and gamble and said, madam, and talked us into getting back on. then we got a good airs thought, and people discovered us. -- a good air spot, and people discovered us. it was like a party. tavis: maybe you were right, and i was wrong. nobody gets canceled after the first season and comes back and again and goes on to be a

legendary production. >> i do not know anything like that either. they knew it was good. they knew we had a good show. it was not that we were bad and got put back on, but we picked up an audience over the summer. i think that is what saved us. >> how did you get that show? >> i was on "bye-bye birdie," and he had that show. he was going to be rob, but they did not like him in that part, and he saw me in the play, and i came out and shot the pilot, and that is how i did it. it was supposed to be peetrie, but i said petrie.

it just stock. tavis: what was it like to work with mary tyler more? >> she was a years younger than i was, beautiful, and a good actors. -- a good actress. i said, can she be funny? they have razor sharp senses of humor, and i learned a lot from them as well. in a couple weeks, i just knew, and she ended up one of the best comedians ever, because she kept her femininity and was still funny. tavis: you start a book by saying there is no scandal year, nothing salacious, which is a strange way to start a book these days, because the thing people are looking for is the

scandal. >> i did not want to waste their time of that is what they were looking for. tavis: you are 85 now. that raises the question of how you have lived all these years in the business and avoided the scandals. >> i think a lot of actors in my generation who grew up during the depression in the middle west with those values and work ethics, who were naturally it that way. i do not think anything happened to me that i could not resist. >> you talked about in the book -- it was not scandalous, but you did feel some guilt when you left your first wife. tell me more about that. >> spouses in show business are treated pretty badly. they are shunned aside and ignored, and my wife, as a crowd as she was of me, did not like

-- as proud as she was of me, did not like show biz, and she wanted to retire. she wanted me to get out, and i was only 40 years old and did not want to. we just amicably realize a time had come when i had to go back and to what i loved to do, and it turned out i never invested a divorce in my life ever, but it does happen. tavis: how important was it for you in terms of moving on with your live in show business that it did and amicably? >> very important. i do not think i could have done it any other way, but she was very understanding. we remain very close. she passed away of cancer a

couple years ago. >> there is a great story about you and dr. king. i am going to let you tell the story. i regard to dr. king as the greatest american. i will let you tell the story. >> it is a little embarrassing. he was in los angeles and spoke of the coliseum. 60,000 people showed up. we were in the middle of the coliseum on the stand stand, and just before we went out, -- on the bandstand, and just before we went out, someone said, i want to warn you there has been a threat on dr. king's life. we were all very worried. i found myself sitting next to him. tavis: what were you doing on the stage that day, and what did you say?

you took the podium that day. >> ron stirling wrote the most beautiful speech, and i got to give the speech. i do not even have a copy of it, but i was so proud to be asked to do it. >> you were talking about what that day? >> we were talking about civil rights. it was right during the movement, exciting times. i know it is the 50th anniversary, and i am so happy to see all the film, because there are a couple of generations that do not know what happened, and they have to be reminded what went on. tavis: when we think it vandyke, we think comedian, showman -- when we think of dick van dyke, we think comedian and showman. i am not sure how many people think of you as civil rights.

how did you get involved as a white male? the courage it took at the time -- how did you end up speaking so courageously about civil rights? >> i was deeply affected. i moved to atlanta, georgia, in 1950 or so, had never been south, so i did not believe what i was seeing. i did not know what the conditions were, that everything was separated -- everything. i was working at a nightclub. we had a little act, and i bought all home and lived there for about five years. we used to go to a restaurant called a picnic, and that turned out to be a baseball bat who would -- the man with a baseball about who would run people out turned out to be the governor of georgia, but it happened that that man could be elected to the governorship, and it made me so

angry once the movement got started, i thought, now is the time to move, and what a time in american history. you go back to atlanta and now, and it is so different. tavis: was there any kind of price to pay with you speaking out about civil rights? >> peter salinger was running for the senate at that time, and there was a bill on the docket called proposition 14, which was about fair housing, and you could not discriminate for any reason, and he was getting a lot of slack. we went on a whistle stop tour from l.a. to san diego, and in places in orange county, we had eggs thrown at us, tomatoes thrown at us, and we got to san diego, and the people who were backing him said, you have to

drop the proposition 14 issue, and he refused. proposition 14 got on the books, and i was very proud of that whole campaign. he did not get a elected. tavis: it took courage to do that. >> everybody was pretty angry at what was happening, and after the watts riots, i became involved with what was known as bootstrap. we would go to an empty store and be confronted by angry young black men, but i learned a lot. i got to be a good friend with the black panthers. tavis: there is a great story in the book about the day you let the white head -- the day the black panthers came to your house, and people were upset. >> they said your house was surrounded by police, and somebody did something. i will never know. levy was ready to defend me,

but if all quieted down. somebody had called the police because there was a black panther there. >> and dick van dyke hanging out with a black panther. not long ago in this very chair sat at the white. i just -- sat bety white. i have the most delightful conversation with her, and i raise that because she was in dancing in age. you are still working. why are you -- she was advancing in age. you are still advancing in age. you are working. why are you working? is your brother working and? >> he cannot sing a note. we just did a play together. we sang for obama who last august at the ford theater in

washington, and we sang for michelle and obama, and afterwards, he said, will you teach me those moves? i think he could do them, too. >> how cool was it for you and the guy to perform with the president? >> especially her, she said, you are my favorite television show, and he said, she never misses it. i had not had butterflies in years, but i looked out there, and my angelou and the supreme court. -- maya angelo and the supreme court. tavis: there are some stories about how you have severe stage fright, and at one point source in your mouth because you were too afraid to go onstage in -- you had sores in your mouth because you were too afraid to

go onstage. >> i had a kissing scene, and she was really a trooper. i was scared to death. so much was riding on it. it was so important. i wanted to move to california. being in the theater is iffy, and i needed steady work, and i needed that job so badly. i think i lost 10 pounds at the same time. tavis: do you recall how you got past that stage of being so frightened? >> i do not think i ever had it again. carl reiner, being a genius, and that group fell together from the beginning. i have never had so much fun in my life. tavis: the you imagine there is anything else in life you could have done if you had not been so lucky in show business? what else might event i have

done? >> i would have starved to death every day what else might and the van dyke region what else -0 -- what else might you have done? >> i would have starved to death. i like being a kid all my life. >> when you see your work all these years later, what goes through your mind? what did you think when you see yourself singing and dancing? tavis: i just remembered -- >> i just remember how much fun i was having at the time. it never was to work. it was like going to a party every day. it was always a creative, always fun, and look at the love i had with my leading ladies -- mary tyler more -- look at the luck i had with my leading ladies -- , julie andrews.'

>> what is your thought on why you have been so blessed? >> i do not know. i have no idea. i did not know i was going to sing or dance or act. it just happened. i have to attribute it to lock or grace -- to luck or grace. >> anything you had to think about putting in the book? anything that really cause you some turmoil, that you really want to talk about? >> i had come out about my episode with alcoholism before, so i did not mind talking about that. it was a little painful having to talk about divorce, because it is not something i really believe in, and i cannot believe it happened to me. that was really painful. i put it in the best terms i

could, what really happened. i hate to talk about that. tavis: 1 people, to you and ask your advice, surely you cannot say, -- when people come to you to ask your a vice, surely you cannot say just to be lucky. >> i tell them to prepare. you have to be triple threat these days, and do not learn on the job like i did. i would say to prepare yourself, and go with the flow. do not the tunnel vision about it. if things change, take advantage of it. so many say, i want to be this kind of performer, and they pay no more attention to what happens. i had a family. i had to keep working. i took anything that came along, and that's is where luck

came in. >> finally i get something i can hold onto. you have been very tenacious and had a lot of talent when the luck came along, and that is why you can write the book, a memoir, with a wonderful friend from his longtime friend, carl reiner. >> i cannot thank you enough for having me on. >> that is our show for tonight. we will see you next time. as always, keep the faith. ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: join me next time with ahead of this nfl players association plus princeton professor cornell west. >> all i know is his name is james and he needs extra help with his reading.

>> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all lived better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley with every question and every answer. nationwide is proud to join in working to end economic illiteracy and working to end obstacles and one at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and from contributions from viewers like you. thank you. ♪